The publication of Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch in 1970 was a landmark event, raising eyebrows and ire while creating a shock wave of recognition in women around the world with its steadfast assertion that sexual liberation is the key to women's liberation. Today, Greer's searing examination of the oppression of women in contemporary society is both an important historical record of where we've been and a shockingly relevant treatise on what still remains to be achieved.
Thirty years after the publication of The Female Eunuch, Germaine Greer is back with the sequel she vowed never to write. "A marvelous performance--. No feminist writer can match her for eloquence or energy; none makes [us] laugh the way she does."--The Washington Post In this thoroughly engaging new book, the fervent, rollicking, straight-shooting Greer, is, as ever, "the ultimate agent provocateur" (Mirabella). With passionate rhetoric, outrageous humor, and the authority of a lifetime of thought and observation, she trains a sharp eye on the issues women face at the turn of the century. From the workplace to the kitchen, from the supermarket to the bedroom, Greer exposes the innumerable forms of insidious discrimination and exploitation that continue to plague women around the globe. She mordantly attacks "lifestyle feminists" who blithely believe they can have it all, and argues for a fuller, more organic idea of womanhood. Whether it's liposuction or abortion, Barbie or Lady Diana, housework or sex work, Greer always has an opinion, and as one of the most brilliant, glamorous, and dynamic feminists of all time, her opinions matter. For anyone interested in the future of womanhood, The Whole Woman is a must-read.
As a student in Melbourne, Elizabeth Kleinhenz heard frequent talk of this almost mythical figure, Germaine Greer. Urged on by her mother, a first wave feminist, she read The Female Eunuch, a clarion call that rallied women to assert their female power, and, like her mother and millions of others across the world, changed her life. As one of the first researchers permitted to trawl through the Germaine Greer Archive housed at the University of Melbourne, Elizabeth found evidence of a brilliant teacher, serious scholar, flamboyantly attired hippie TV presenter, provocative magazine columnist and editor, real estate investor, domestic goddess, creator of extravagant gardens and preserves, shelterer of strays and waifs, libertarian, bohemian, anarchist, working journalist, correspondent, traveller and adventurer, international celebrity and performer, wag and ratbag, mentor and icon. Germaine Greer has said that her archive is a representation of the times in which she has lived. Yet she anticipated, catalysed and triumphantly rode the wave of the immense social and intellectual changes of her era. For Elizabeth, two things are certain: women’s lives today are very different from how they were when Germaine Greer and she left school; and much of the change that has occurred over the past half-century can be directly attributed to the lifetime of intense scholarship, unremitting hard work and influence of Germaine Greer.
Germaine Greer is one of the opinion-formers of our age, her challenging views constantly provoking us in print and on the small screen. The Female Eunuch, her first book published in 1970, was hailed by the women's liberation movement and influenced an entire generation. Yet two years earlier Greer had argued that there is hardly a woman alive who is not deeply attracted to the notion of a husband of the kind extolled by Kate, the rebellious wife subdued in The Taming of the Shrew. Nearly 30 years later, as Germaine Greer revises what one reviewer called one of the most eloquent pieces of anarchist propaganda that have appeared in this century, it is fitting to assess the life and work of this complex, compelling intellect.
An updated edition of Germaine Greer's revolutionary discussion of menopause, which the New York Times Book Review called "a brilliant, gutsy, exhilarating, bruising, exasperating fury of a book." A quarter of a century after the first publication of Germaine Greer's now canonical look at women's experience later in life, the renowned feminist and prolific author updates and expands her essential book, The Change. Despite improvements over the last few years, discussions about menopause are still hampered by a huge variance in conventional wisdom about what happens, when it happens, when it can be said to be over, and how to deal with it. After decades, the same misinformation and ineffective methods are still being widely touted and proliferating at an alarming rate due to the rise of the Internet. In this updated edition of her groundbreaking book, Greer debunks stubborn myths and presents a vital new perspective on the emotional and physical changes--including up-to-date medical details--women face today when they go through what's known as "the change." Greer also addresses cultural changes that surround female aging today, launching a clear and necessary protest against the notion that women should shrink into the background as they grow older. She argues that menopause marks the point in a woman's life when she should be able to stop apologizing and bask in the freedom and joy that come with her later years. Witty, wise, and timely, this new edition of The Change offers a crucial twenty-first-century guide to the change that every woman faces.
It’s time to rethink rape. Centuries of different approaches to rape—as inflicted by men on women—have got us nowhere. Rape statistics remain intractable: one woman in five will experience sexual violence. Very few rapes find their way into court. The crucial issue is consent, thought by some to be easy to establish and by others impossible. Sexual assault does not diminish; relations between the sexes do not improve; litigation balloons. In On Rape Germaine Greer argues there has to be a better way.
For years I had wandered Australia with an aching heart. Everywhere I had ever travelled across the vast expanse of the fabulous country where I was born I had seen devastation, denuded hills, eroded slopes, weeds from all over the world, feral animals, open-cut mines as big as cities, salt rivers, salt earth, abandoned townships, whole beaches made of beer cans... One bright day in December 2001, sixty-two-year-old Germaine Greer found herself confronted by an irresistible challenge in the shape of sixty hectares of dairy farm, one of many in south-east Queensland that, after a century of logging, clearing and downright devastation, had been abandoned to their fate. She didn't think for a minute that by restoring the land she was saving the world. She was in search of heart's ease. Beyond the acres of exotic pasture grass and soft weed and the impenetrable curtains of tangled Lantana canes there were Macadamias dangling their strings of unripe nuts, and Black Beans with red and yellow pea flowers growing on their branches ... and the few remaining White Beeches, stupendous trees up to forty metres in height, logged out within forty years of the arrival of the first white settlers. To have turned down even a faint chance of bringing them back to their old haunts would have been to succumb to despair. Once the process of rehabilitation had begun, the chance proved to be a dead certainty. When the first replanting shot up to make a forest and rare caterpillars turned up to feed on the leaves of the new young trees, she knew beyond doubt that at least here biodepletion could be reversed. Greer describes herself as an old dog who succeeded in learning a load of new tricks, inspired and rejuvenated by her passionate love of Australia and of Earth, most exuberant of small planets.
“Ferocious psychic need and volcanic energy drive this combined memoir, detective story and travelogue” from the author of The Female Eunuch (The New Yorker). After her father died, influential feminist writer and public intellectual Germaine Greer realizes how little she knows about him. She decides to track the life of her father, an Australian intelligence officer during World War II, to uncover the roots of his secrecy and distance. As she painstakingly assembles the jigsaw pieces of the past, Greer discovers surprising secrets about her father, her family, and herself. During her three-year quest, Greer travels from England to Australia, Tasmania, India, and Malta; searches through scores of genealogical, civil, and military archives; and delves into the memories of the men and women who may—or may not—have known Reg Greer. Yet the heart of her “lyrical but brutal elegy” is her own emotional journey, as the startling facts behind her father’s façade force her to painfully examine her own notions of truth and loyalty, family and obligation (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). “Anyone who has done this kind of search will identify with Ms. Greer’s frustration, admire her persistence, laugh at her accuracy and rejoice in her discoveries.” —The New York Times Book Review “The deeply affecting climax is a remarkable feat of family reconstruction.” —Publishers Weekly
Germaine Greer is one of the most enduring and influential figures of the second wave of the women’s movement. The Female Eunuch (1970) is one of second-wave feminism’s most widely recognised publications and its author has come to embody and indeed expand our understanding of second-wave feminism in a way that few others have. Yet, while Greer’s public visibility never seems to wane, her writings and her politics have failed to attract the kind of sustained critical engagement they warrant. This volume represents the first collection of essays to examine Greer, her politics, her writing, and her status as a feminist celebrity. The essays in this collection cover The Female Eunuch (1970), Greer’s public rivalry with Arianna Stassinopoulos, her time in America, her ideas and politics, and her styling as feminist fashion icon. Many essays include new insights drawn from previously unseen material in the recently launched Germaine Greer Archive at the University of Melbourne, Australia. This book was originally published as a Special Issue of Australian Feminist Studies.
A genuinely groundbreaking work which has changed the way we look at boys in art, in literature and in life. In a series of carefully constructed and dazzlingly illustrated themes, ranging from the boy as a passive love object to soldier boys, from the boy under the female gaze to what is a boy?, Germaine Greer opens our eyes and invites us to appreciate boys in all their sensuality, flirtatiousness and vulnerability.
